Multiple challenges in EU cybersecurity, warn auditors
Multiple challenges in strengthening EU cybersecurity remain despite the progress made, according to a new Briefing Paper from the European Court of Auditors. As the risk of falling victim to cybercrime or a cyberattack increases, it is essential to build resilience through strengthening governance, raising skills and awareness, and improving coordination, say the auditors. They also highlight the importance of meaningful accountability and evaluation to help the EU achieve its aim of becoming the world’s safest digital environment.
The Briefing Paper aims to provide an overview of the EU’s cybersecurity policy landscape, which the authors describe as complex and uneven, and to identify the main challenges to effective policy delivery.
“The current challenges posed by cyber threats make this a critical time for the EU to strengthen its cybersecurity and its digital autonomy, while requiring continued commitment to the EU’s core values,” said Baudilio Tomé Muguruza, the member of the European Court of Auditors responsible for the Briefing Paper.
The auditors consider the challenges facing cyber policy under four main headings: the policy and legislative framework; funding and spending; building cyber-resilience; and responding effectively to cyber incidents.
The policy and legislative framework: the EU’s cyber ecosystem is complex and multi-layered. Trying to forge all of these moving parts together into a comprehensive, strategic, coherent and coordinated way is a key challenge. Developing action aligned to EU cybersecurity strategy is a challenge in the absence of measurable objectives and scarce, reliable data. Outcomes are rarely measured and few policy areas have been evaluated, including the state of EU cybersecurity and readiness. The challenge is therefore to shift towards a performance culture with embedded evaluation practices.
Source: European Court of Auditors
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